Finance & Investment
The latest in the spheres of socially responsible investing, impact investing, and other ways investors and shareholders are asserting their desire for ethical investment options.
Fairphone Secures €6.5M to Take Fair, Conflict-Free Electronics Mainstream
Fairphone, a social enterprise and modular smartphone producer spurring a paradigm shift in the technology industry, has secured €6.5 million to scale up its mission to make fair, responsible electronics mainstream. The investment will enable Fairphone to continue innovating in the areas of material sourcing, production, distribution, recycling and product longevity.
Biomimicry = Return on Inspiration
Reprinted with permission. This article was originally published in the 25th Anniversary issue of GreenMoney Journal.
The Body Shop Finds New Home in Purpose-Driven Cosmetics Giant, Natura
Earlier this week, French beauty giant L’Oréal announced that it has concluded the sale of The Body Shop to Brazilian sustainable personal care group Natura Cosmeticos.
Beyond Integrated Reporting: Multicapital Accounting of Integral Data
Part Five in a 10-Part Series by Reporting 3.0. See previous parts below. The 2013 launch of the Integrated Reporting <IR> Framework from the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) swung a double-edged sword through the disclosure field:
What Questions Should Investors Be Asking to Understand If a Company Is Really Socially Sound?
As socially progressive investors, we perform our own due diligence when we consider a company and its ethical, moral and social standing before it is added to our portfolio. Investors must ensure that they properly vet their investments on a large set of data and criteria. This is especially relevant as socially responsible investing (SRI) – directing capital toward companies limiting negative environmental impact and progressing social goals – continues its evolution into the mainstream.
Trucost Launches Corporate Carbon Pricing Tool
To help companies assess exposure to evolving regional carbon-pricing mechanisms, Trucost, which is part of S&P Dow Jones Indices, has launched the Trucost Corporate Carbon Pricing Tool.
Thread Partners with Kiva to Raise $10K, Rev Up First Mile Micro-Loan Program
Certified B Corporation Thread is taking its commitment to end poverty by creating dignified jobs and responsible, high-quality fabrics to the next level with the announcement of a partnership with nonprofit Kiva. The startup, which transforms plastic bottles from the streets and canals of Haiti and Honduras into responsible fabrics, has used Kiva’s direct-to-social enterprise loan program to raise $10,000 for its zero-interest micro-loan program.
ESG2.0: Investors Can Now Use AI, Big Data to Reveal Companies' Real-Time ESG Momentum
This week, TruValue Labs unveiled its ESG Momentum™ score – the first ESG indicator that leverages artificial intelligence, big data and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board’s (SASB) materiality framework – as part of its Insight360™ suite of products. The score reveals the positive or negative direction, or trend, of ESG performance based on daily data.
New Alliance Launches to Accelerate Impact Investment Movement
Bringing together financial institutions, investors and intermediaries to continue catalyzing the impact investing moment, the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance has launched its expanded network of impact investing leaders. The Alliance was founded last year by representatives from philanthropy, business and finance to drive impact investing in the U.S. by increasing awareness, fostering deployment of and demand for impact capital across asset classes globally and partnering with policymakers and other stakeholders to build the impact investing ecosystem.
What’s the Climate Risk of Your Insurance Company?
Recently, on National Insurance Awareness Day, I reflected on the previous week, when California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones keynoted at the Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2) lunch meeting.
HP Inc. Pledges $20 Million to Improve Education Outcomes Across the World
Putting its commitment to improve access to quality education and lifelong learning for all into action, HP Inc. has pledged $20 million in technology, training R&D and funding contributions between 2015 – 2025 at the 2017 Global Citizen Festival in Hamburg, Germany.
Ceres Launches Guide to Help Investors Identify Risks in Food Sector Supply Chains
With environmental and social impacts increasingly influencing investor decision making, Ceres has developed a new peer-reviewed resource guide to help investors better analyze financial risks in the food sector.
U.S. Climate Innovators: Live in Fear or Flee to France? Filling the U.S. Federal Funding Void
French president Emmanuel Macron’s offer of refuge to U.S. climate scientists and innovators in the wake of Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement was not only a defiant policy rebuke, but a clear signal that France – like many other countries – now wants to seize momentum and take advantage in the absence of American leadership on climate.
Defining New Accounting — As If the Future Counts
This is part three of a four-part series on themes explored at the 4th International Reporting 3.0 Conference. Read parts one and two.
Why Monetization Should Not Be Used for Sustainability Accounting
I have over the years developed a rule of thumb or criterion for assessing the efficacy of sustainability measurement and reporting methods that goes something like this: If it is possible for an organization to perform “well” according to the principles of a particular measurement and reporting system and yet still be putting vital resources or human wellbeing at risk, then the system itself fails on its face and should be rightly rejected.
Finally, Real Action from Big Banks on Deforestation
This month BNP Paribas, the world’s seventh-largest financial institution, announced a new palm oil policy that sets responsible palm oil production as a pre-condition for financing. The policy requires that companies receiving financing protect forests and indigenous people.
CDP, Bank of America, Barclays Introduce World's First Investment-Grade Carbon Pricing Scheme
While the adoption of carbon pricing is on the rise, members of the We Mean Business Coalition, including Barclays, Bank of America and Hermes Investment Management have introduced the world’s first investment-grade carbon pricing system for the power sector — which accounts for one-quarter of global emissions — in an effort to accelerate the transformation needed to limit global warming to a 2°C scenario.
Redefining the Good Life: The Investing Power of Millennials
Over the next few years, the private sector will inherit the enormous responsibility of sustaining the health of our planet. Although this daunting challenge may force companies to operate outside of their comfort zones, businesses should recognize that with great responsibility comes great opportunity. In a market where consumer attitudes and brand loyalties are shifting to prefer socially and environmentally conscious products, companies hoping to remain competitive must integrate sustainability into the core of their business models.
'The Biggest Prosperity Opportunity in History': Joel Solomon on the ‘Clean Money Revolution’
By 2050, $40 trillion will change hands in North America alone – the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in history – and the effects will transform the world as we know it. This is Joel Solomon’s opening gambit as he launches his passionate and persuasive primer on The Clean Money Revolution: Reinventing Power, Purpose, and Capitalism, published this month (New Society Press, co-authored by Tyee Bridge).
Bluon Energy Enlists Leonardo DiCaprio to Boost Energy Efficiency, Tackle Climate Change
California-based startup Bluon Energy, creator of an energy-efficient replacement refrigerant for existing HVAC-R systems, has scored new investors and a board advisor to boost awareness of the role its refrigerants can play in the fight against climate change and to bolster sales. This comes at a time when existing HVAC-R refrigerants used by the majority of the US and the world are becoming obsolete due to federal regulation and global phase-outs.